Ride25 began in June 2012 with a group of friends deciding that it would be fun to see the world on a bike and raise money for charity on the way. The founders always wanted to cycle from the UK to Sydney, Australia but with jobs and families to consider getting on a bike and going was unrealistic!
The solution was to break up the journey into 25 legs and complete one leg each year over 25 years. Every year a new leg is completed over a (very) long weekend. The first 10 legs have involved the group cycling from Parmoor (West of London) to Tbilisi in Georgia via Paris, Geneva, Milan, Rome, Bari, Thessaloniki, Istanbul, Ankara and Giresun. All the riders who have participated in any of the very first ten legs of our UK to Sydney adventure are in an exclusive club called the ‘The Pioneers’.
The Pioneers are an eclectic mix of enterprising people that have made the journey an integral part of their annual calendar. Each year the Pioneers are invited to complete the next leg for the very first time. The Pioneers help to define the journey and adventure to Sydney. 2024 was Leg 11 (of 25 legs).
The adventure raises money for 1moreChild – a small charity in Uganda that helps take children off the street and gives them everything they need to enable them to go to school. All cyclists pay all their own costs so all the money raised goes straight to the charity.
The Founders are a new group that are following the steps of the Pioneers and cycling to Australia. It started with Leg 1 from London to Paris in September 2022.
Leg 2 was 352 miles from Paris to Geneva in September 2023. Leg 3 will take place from 19th to 22nd September 2024.
The ride is open to founders of fast growth businesses.
There are 80-100 people on each trip. 90% of participants are previous Pioneers / Founders with a handful of pioneer virgins added each year.
The aim of Ride25 is to travel from the UK to Australia in manageable chunks. We are not aiming to get there quickly but over 25 years.
The beauty of the journey is that the majority of the miles cycled are on roads that you would never visit normally – in fact generally we see very few cyclists from outside our group. You spend time in places that you will probably never visit again and because you are on a bike you really see everything, how people live and work, what they eat etc.
We spend a lot of time trying to work out the best route and recce every mile of the route before launching the next leg. We work hard to try to find scenic routes, on quiet roads wherever possible. We also try to cycle daily distances that are a challenge, but manageable as long as you train in advance. The routes are generally in the countryside meaning one of the challenges is finding enough hotel beds at the end of each day. Usually the recce involves driving 1,000+ miles, going around in circles and ending up in many dead ends!
In 2012 we plotted the following legs / badges – with only some minor changes to the badges so far we are well on the way to completing all 25:
You can join other Pioneers by joining the Ride25 Pioneers Strava Team.
This will enable you to see how much / how little people in the group train across the year:
